As cross debate continues, Surfing Madonna finds a home

Artist Mark Patterson installed the Surfing Madonna on a wall next to Surfy Surfy surf shop on North Coast Highway in Leucadia on Monday, June 25, 2012. The mosaic is made mostly of glass and stones.
— K.C. Alfred

Artist Mark Patterson installed the Surfing Madonna on a wall next to Surfy Surfy surf shop on North Coast Highway in Leucadia on Monday, June 25, 2012. The mosaic is made mostly of glass and stones.
— K.C. Alfred

The Surfing Madonna burst upon the scene more than a year ago. A Christian icon with Mexican accent, Our Lady of Guadalupe is whimsically imagined on a surfboard. A bright new context has been created for an inherently religious symbol.

While the Soledad cross has been around in some form or another for nearly a century, Mark Patterson’s fugitive SM was forced to fight for her right to spread her Save the Ocean message on public land.

Ultimately, of course, she wiped out. The state Attorney General’s Office, taking the most expansive (I’d say insane) view possible, deemed the SM too religious in nature to be displayed on state property.

To avoid further heartburn, Patterson arranged to exhibit his guerrilla masterpiece between Cafe Ipe and Surfy Surfy.

Tuesday morning, Steve Danon, genial candidate for county supervisor, and I sat in the cafe’s patio and watched locals wander up and admire the world-famous mosaic. (No one knelt. There were no tears in the Madonna’s eyes, as a reporter friend joked.)

The irony strikes me as rich.

In my view, the Soledad cross should have been moved years ago. Another monument — a flag, an obelisk, whatever — should have taken its place. End of story.

But the region’s establishment rose up, and now the cross is widely portrayed as a victim of government hostility to religion. The cross is now a crusade.

The Surfing Madonna, on the other hand, never had time to become a landmark. It wasn’t grandmothered into North County’s culture. Thanks to the state AG, she had to go private — or go into storage.

Short of Solomon arriving with baby shears, the 20-plus Year War over the Mount Soledad cross will continue until every World War II vet is dead.

Meanwhile, the beatific Surfing Madonna looks as if she’s made in Leucadia’s aromatic shade.